Game of Thrones
There will be blood
House of the Dragon got off to a pretty uninspirational start, I thought: no major characters brought to a shocking…
This will end badly
I don’t think it’s my imagination: it really is getting harder and harder to find anything worth watching on TV.…
Skins in togas
I’ve been looking at the reviews so far of Sky’s new Romans series Domina and none seems to have noticed…
Paul Mason: The Brexit party is great news for Labour
Multiple copies of a Labour leaflet for the European elections are being shared on messaging apps by horrified activists. Not…
I admire the scale and ambition of Game of Thrones – but isn’t it just a little bit corny?
If you’ve ever faced the social embarrassment of having to admit that you’ve never seen Game of Thrones (Sky Atlantic,…
No mere mortal could possibly keep up with Game of Thrones
By the time you read this, James Delingpole and I will have made our first podcast in 596 days. That’s…
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Which comes first, the events or the zeitgeist? Peter Biskind examines pop culture
Those who study culture — or think about public policy in relation to it — often wrestle with the classic…
Is Britannia really in the Game of Thrones’s league?
It’s a terrible thing for a TV critic to admit but I just don’t know what to make of Britannia,…
Winter is nearly here – bring on the body count
As a Game of Thrones fan, I feel ambivalent about the fact that the saga is finally wending its way…
Bending London’s listing rules to win Saudi favour smacks of desperation
Now here’s a tricky question. The world’s largest oil company, potentially worth six times as much as ExxonMobil and ten…
Dethroned by feminism
I’m a bit worried about Game of Thrones (Sky Atlantic). Not seriously worried: there’s too much money invested, too much…
Wish upon a star
Out come the stars in Kenneth Branagh’s Romeo and Juliet. He musters a well-drilled, celebrity-ridden crew but they can’t quite…
Something to crow about
There’s no way of saying this without shredding the last vestiges of my critical credibility, but this new Ben Elton…
His dark materials
So: Game of Thrones. Finally — season six — the TV series has overtaken the books on which it is…
All the world’s a stage
James Woodall talks to the Belgian director Ivo van Hove, who has brought a swathe of Shakespeare’s history plays to the stage in Dutch (four hours of it)
Spying and potting
The main problem with being a TV critic, I’ve noticed over the years, is that you have to watch so…
The Last Kingdom is BBC2’s solemnly cheesy answer to Game of Thrones
The opening caption for The Last Kingdom (BBC2, Thursday) read ‘Kingdom of Northumbria, North of England, 866 AD’. In fact,…
A myth is as good as a mile
We live in disenchanted times. We barely do God, most of us don’t do magic and frenzied consumerism occupies our…
Names
We reached peak Charlie in 2012, when 5,571 baby boys were given the name. There were only 4,642 last year.…
Deadly, not dull
Blimey, there has been so much good stuff to watch on telly of late: the Grand National, the Boat Race…
Brother against brother
Thank goodness for Game of Thrones. I think. Apparently it is inspired by the Wars of the Roses, drawing inspiration…
Made in Heaven
Where is Jessica Hyde? If those words mean nothing to you then I have some excellent news. If not, then…
Serpents’ tale
Did you know that the 8th-century Kingdom of Northumbria was the epicentre of an international exotic reptile trade? I only…
Touchstone of humanity
Which character are you in Game of Thrones? For me it’s got to be the imp, Tyrion Lannister. As Ed…
Our island story
A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Having recently learnt of his father’s beheading, the adolescent —…
